Dementia Daughter

I was helping my mom brainstorm ideas to keep my dad busy. Here are a few we came up with that he could still do that he might enjoy. It was hard to create a very long list as we know what he used to like to do, but couldn’t think of a way to create an activity around it. For instance, he was a farmer his whole life and there’s not much he can do anymore to contribute to the farm. Even gardening wasn’t an option. His world has become so small. It felt really sad to realize this. We just did our best and that’s really all any of us can do. The plan is to try only one a day.

Play checkers and not worry about the rules!

Puzzles (he doesn’t really like puzzles) but he tolerates them. The pieces are getting bigger. I suppose when it gets frustrating for him we’ll have to stop trying to get him to do puzzles. No need to get him confused or agitated by forcing it.

Open junk mail – he’s been misplacing the bills and important documents so we signed up for a few newsletters and he started getting more mail. Keeps him busy so Mom can do what she needs to do!

Laundry help – he really doesn’t like this either, but he can match socks, fold towels, and underwear.

Look at old photo books. He loves this!

Water plants – he puts a tray on his Walker seat and then the watering can on that and can push the Walker around to water plants.

Listen to audiobooks. He can’t read all that well anymore, but he can follow along with the book and listen to the audio. This is a new one we want to try. We’re not sure he’ll like the earphones or be able to hear a CD player or tablet.

We are thinking of bringing some of the toy tractors he collected over the years into the house from his shop. We thought it might bring him joy. We’re not sure he’ll exactly remember collecting them but maybe somewhere deep down he will feel good.

I’ll let you know in a later blog how these things went! Make your own list and just try. You’ll be glad you did if even one of your ideas is a success!